Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa, Saturday, March 28th, 5:09pm CT, TBS

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#351      
I'm interested to see:

1)Does Illinois turn out more fans?
2)Does Iowa turn out more fans?
3)Are some seats empty because of the lack of proximity from Champaign and Iowa City to Houston?

I'm really hoping that our turnout is absolutely next level.
 
#352      
Nervous Hot Ones GIF by First We Feast
Meh, honestly, nothing to be nervous about.

If we lose it's because we played really poorly. That's it. If we play a good game, not a great game....we win. If we play poorly, then our players need to own it and live with it.

Outside of Sturtz, I'm not sure that anyone else on Iowa cracks our rotation. Florida decided to sleepwalk through a half and they earned what happened.

If we were playing Florida and I thought our margin for error was razor thin, Id be on edge, but in this case there's absolutely no reason to be nervous. We are the far better team and anything outside of a solid W is us playing poorly on both ends. I refuse to feel bad about that.

If we play 40 full minutes, there will be no anxiety at the 10 minute mark of the second half.
 
#354      
That's a funny story, I can tell you I was at whatever they call the Rosemont Horizon these days a couple of weeks ago for Monster Jam with my buddy's son's, and I am happy to confirm that the facility has absolutely not been upgraded in any way.

Correct! It is still a dump!
 
#355      
I'm interested to see:

1)Does Illinois turn out more fans?
2)Does Iowa turn out more fans?
3)Are some seats empty because of the lack of proximity from Champaign and Iowa City to Houston?

I'm really hoping that our turnout is absolutely next level.
When you looked across the gym Thursday. Illinois had slightly more fans. That said, if anyone happens to be in Houston tonight, the Iowa players are staying at the Hyatt Regency 😉 ..
 
#356      
Small sample size alert, but Iowa has been the best offensive team in the tournament so far, at 142 offensive rating.

Illinois' size should bother them, though, just can't give up easy baskets.

(Illinois is 5th at 132 offensive rating).
 
#357      
Headed to Houston tomorrow morning, does anyone know what end of the court and/or what section the Illinois bench will be on? Also, is the pre-game meetup in the same spot as Thursday? Sorry if this has been asked/answered earlier...go Illini!
From what I understand. We are home team. So we would be on the end that says rockets when you buy tickets. I bought in 114 section so I could see the net cutting better.
 
#358      
Can’t remember who it was on here that was trashing on Jake Davis, but just a reminder… my boy Jake balled out when he was in. That said, I think this a game for Big Z and Tomi to really impose the twin towers. Illini by 15.
 
#359      
There was an interesting discussion on this board a while back where everyone was discussing rivals and how who you viewed as Illinois’ main rival was dependent on what era and what part of the state you grew up in. I grew up in the metro east and was raised to dislike all things Mizzou and the Indiana schools but Iowa has always just been another team on the schedule. I imagine there’s a correlation between people's anxiety level and how highly they rank Iowa as rival.
I grew up in the Quad Cities. It’s a three hour drive to Champaign and only one hour to Iowa City. The area is split about 50/50 as far as Illini and Hawkeye fans. Illinois and Iowa is a huge rivalry in that part of the state.
 
#363      
defend, rebound, fight and we will win. it's time
Yeah, if we defend with tenacity and protect the basketball like yesterday, we should win each half. But adjustments will need to be made as their offense is different from Houston's.

82-72 I-L-L
 
#365      
Have to make free throws. I don’t know what has happened, but that has become a major issue.
People said the same thing earlier in the year. They're in the 95th percentile nationally. Its being overexaggerated.
 
#366      
I think they were just exhausted from playing 40 minutes of D. Something they hadn't really done all year for both halves lol.
We missed 2 of 3 foul shots in the first half against Houston. We missed foul shots in the games that went into OT that we lost. It's not fatigue - our FT shooting % has dropped 4% in the past 2 months and in the second half we shoot worse than in the first half. One thing I think we can almost expect. If we get ahead by more than 6 with 4 minutes left Iowa is going to foul (1) BAM (2) Keaton (3) Mirk and force us to beat them at the foul line.

However, if its just a matter of focus or concentration, I think all 3 players will come through tomorrow.
 
#367      
I grew up in the Quad Cities. It’s a three hour drive to Champaign and only one hour to Iowa City. The area is split about 50/50 as far as Illini and Hawkeye fans. Illinois and Iowa is a huge rivalry in that part of the state.
I'm here in the quad cities for the weekend, on the Iowa side, proudly wearing my battered Illini hat over my wife's modest concern.
 
#368      
Stakes are high for the match. If Iowa wins, Ben McCollum will become the talk of Curt Cignetti of basketball. On the other hand, if Illinois wins, Brad will reach the same status as Lou Henson.

BTW, I was able to get inexpensive tickets (section 106) for the game. See you there!!
 
#370      
I think the Illini find their shooting eye for this one but continue to drive the ball with Boswell, Keaton and Andrej than kick out. Boswell can slow Stiritz down enough. It will be close for a while but I think we pull away late and advance to final 4! Ill.-79 Iowa 69
 
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